Jane Goodall And the Rise of the Planet of the Chimps

Silver-haired and 77 years old, primatologist Jane Goodall is perceived as a kind of saint of science, traveling the world to spread the gospel of conservation. Flash back 50 years to when she first hit the field in Tanzania. There, the unschooled assistant to Louis Leakey used controversial methods to connect with chimpanzees, and had a love affair with (and later married) nature photographer Hugo van Lawick, whose shots helped catapult her to fame.

A new documentary film, “Jane’s Journey,” covers these chapters, but also takes the story back to Goodall’s childhood in England, where she rooted in the family garden and doted on a stuffed monkey named Jubilee. Her later scientific breakthroughs, including her discoveries that chimps were not vegetarians and used rudimentary tools, are noted in the movie, but the emphasis is on her current work through the non-profit Jane Goodall Institute. In the movie she helps bring a youth conservation program to an Indian reservation in South Dakota, where a rash of youth suicides had hit the Oglala Sioux Tribe.

The documentary will screen Tuesday as part of “Jane Goodall Live,” a one-night event in 460 movie theaters that will also feature celebrity cameos (Dave Matthews, Charlize Theron) and a live discussion with Goodall. We recently spoke to her by phone in England about her work, her public image and why she totes a bottle of Scotch on the road.